Inspiration from the children's section

[seneschal]

Bored of the broo? Find Deep Ones dull? Wearied of werewolves? Inspiration for new monsters for your campaign is as close as the children’s section of your local library.

The Fluffs have landed. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Source: Andrea Beaty, Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies, Abrams Books, New York, New York, 2010

Fluffs

Voracious, intelligent, telepathic predators from another galaxy, F.L.U.F.F.s (Fierce, Large, Ugly, and Ferocious Furballs) bear an unfortunate resemblance to cute, cuddly terrestrial bunny rabbits. Initial exposure to Earth’s atmosphere reduced the invaders from their normal 7-foot stature, causing further confusion with herbivorous local Lagomorphs. In reality, Fluffs’ apparently soft, fuzzy fur consists of microtubules designed for absorbing carbohydrates from the environment and for radiating telepathic communications. Fluffs’ long ears are also appendages capable of delivering stunning slaps. Their large, limpid eyes mesmerize potential prey, allowing Fluffs to get within striking range. Fluffs can also assume the form of their latest ingested victim, an ability rarely used on their perished home world, where they had multiplied like, well, rabbits and devoured all other animal life forms.

Fluffs require sugar to live, and seek out sweets with the single-minded dedication of a drug addict. They also need a certain amount of protein but can survive indefinitely without meat. They just enjoy stalking and ravaging other creatures. Deprived of sugar, however, they shrink and lose their telepathic abilities and bipedal stance. Fluffs didn’t develop (or need) tools and technology on their own planet but they’re smart enough to dope out sophisticated human gear and use it to their advantage. When their home world was threatened by a killer meteor, they escaped via an unmanned Earth rocket ship, which had landed (and which they had ignored after they had eaten the robotic probes) years before.

STR 3D6+21 (31-32)

CON 2D6+6 (13)

SIZ 3D6+21 (31-32)

INT 2D6+6 (13)

POW 3D6 (10-11)

DEX 3D6+6 (16-17)

APP 2D6+10 (16)

Move: 11

Hit Points: 23

Damage Bonus: +1D4

Armor: 5 AP, just out of sheer cussedness

Attacks: Bite 25%, 1D10+1/2db; Claw 35%, 1D6+db; Ear-Slap 40%, 2D6+2+db; Swirly Eyes 60%, Mind Control

Skills: Climb 25%; Command 45%; Disguise 30%; Dodge 34%; Drive (or Pilot) Random Vehicle 20%; Heavy Machine 35%; Hide 25%; Jump 55%; Language (Fluff) 65%; Language (English) 50%; Listen 70%; Spot 25%; Stealth 40%; Strategy 30%; Technical Skill 20%; Track 45%

Powers: Alternate Form (one, most recent victim); Armor (Kinetic); Extra Energy; Mind Control; Super Hearing

Failings: Full-time Super Identity (alien rabbit monster, +5); Physical Frailty (must have sugar, +3); Bad Habit (eats people, +3); Socially Excluded Group (ravenous alien invader, +3)

Notes: Characteristics were based on polar bear stats, given the Fluffs’ SIZ and natural weaponry. DEX is equivalent to that of a chimpanzee. Based on the characteristics, the Fluffs’ initial Power Point budget was 134, plus 14 more for Failings. Its Mind Control power was borrowed from the Psychics section of the Big Gold Book, since mental super powers aren’t delineated.

Comments? Jeers? Suggestions?

Edited May 28, 2011 by seneschal

[seneschal]

Hmmm, no comment after 46 views. Does that indicate reverent awe ... or stunned horror?

[Atgxtg]

More like we thought the guys with the straight jacket would have gotten you, by now.

[ORtrail]

Between the Hoops of Gamma World, GURPS Bunnies & Burrows, and the occasional mutant jackrabbit of the TMNT RPG there is a soft spot in my heart for fluffy and deadly.

These Fluffs would fit right into a post-holocaust or Supers type of setting (which is how you seem to have written them up).

[seneschal]

Source: Tim Byrd, Doc Wilde and the Frogs of Doom, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, NY, 2009

Essentially, it’s Doc Savage (and his son and grandchildren) versus the Deep Ones in the Amazon rainforest. The book is necessarily kid-friendly, of course. The plot will be familiar to both Doc Savage and H.P. Lovecraft fans. What makes Byrd’s tale stand out is his sheer variety of frog monsters, since the other-worldly entity trying to devour the world inevitably reshapes all Earth animals within reach in its own image. So we’ve got:

Frog warriors – These are man-sized bipedal creatures with lots of sharp teeth and long, sharp claws. They wear moldy robes and were once men. They’re mooks, at least when battling fabled pulp heroes. Also known as Leap Ones.

Spy frogs – Squishy bundles of living glue, these large-eyed amphibians can stick to any surface and are harmless … except that they act as living remote camcorders for the Frog God and its minions.

Flying frog-eagles – Colorful winged frogs with sharp talons and raptor beaks, flying frogs are the Frog God’s attack drones. Fortunately, they’re as vulnerable to the upper air’s cold temperatures as any other frog.

Gremlitoads (and gremlipoles) – Metal-dissolving critters perfect for wrecking machinery, such as the heroes’ escape vehicle. Gremlipoles (the immature form) are microscopic tadpoles, invisible to the naked eye, and can be carried by other mutated critters.

Saber-toothed frogs – They are 200-pounds of toothy destruction with a ridge of spines down their backs. They hunt in packs.

Frog-squid – It’s a random mutated predator rather than an actual minion, as large as a middle-schooler at least, with vestigial webbed feet and lots of tentacles.

The Emerald Frog – A mystic artifact created by an evil sorcerer in Sumerian times and subsequently lost when said magician was slain by a brawny barbarian warrior. It next appeared in the hands of Large Mouth Benny, American gangster and would-be world conqueror, in 1948. The artifact is a life-sized emerald frog with ruby eyes. It is the key to opening our universe to the Frog God. Within the evil entity’s Amazonian sphere of influence, it can come to malign life and transform any human foolish enough to be holding it at the time into an avatar of the Frog God itself.